Field of the Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to a ball gaming system such as a roulette wheel apparatus, and in particular to a ball launcher for use in a gaming system such as a roulette wheel apparatus and to a gaming system such as a roulette wheel apparatus comprising the ball launcher.
Description of the Related Technology
It has previously been proposed to provide an automatic roulette wheel assembly comprising a roulette wheel having a number of slot compartments circumferentially arranged. The wheel is rotated by a motor and a ball fire mechanism is arranged to fire/launch a roulette ball onto the rotating wheel so that the ball, after passing a zone having obstacles for diverting/deflecting the ball, will land in one of the slot compartments, which process is being regarded as drawing a random number.
The automatic roulette wheel assembly may comprise a return mechanism to return the ball from the slot in which it lands back to the firing mechanism. Such an automatic roulette wheel assembly may be used to provide a game of roulette operated by a croupier taking bets and paying out winnings in a casino.
It has previously been further proposed to provide a fully automatic roulette wheel assembly by providing such an automatic roulette wheel assembly together with means to identify the slot compartment in which the ball lands, and means for users to place bets and receive any winnings. Such a fully automatic roulette wheel assembly may be used to provide a game of roulette without requiring any human operator, either in a casino or remotely, for example with the game being viewed and bets placed by, and winnings paid to, players via an electronic interface and over the Internet.
Document US 2010/0124966 discloses a roulette game system wherein the ball may be launched by means of applying an accelerating force to the ball by air discharged from discharge openings provided in an edge portion of the gaming area. Starting and stopping the discharge of the pressurized air is controlled by a timer, wherein bet end timing is set through an external operation by staff in a game hall or a controller so as to make sure that it is impossible or at least to add difficulty to predict a location at which the ball falls. More particularly, pressurized air injected into the landings or pockets of the roulette wheel via nozzles associated with said pockets force the ball from the respective pocket radially outwards towards the outer rim of the roulette wheel where additional air nozzles arranged substantially tangential to the outer rim of the roulette playing area discharge pressurized air to force the ball to roll along the bank path at the upper edge of the roulette playing area. Thus, the ball does not leave the playing area and a usual launching unit for launching the ball from outside into the playing area can be dispensed with. To avoid blowing of the ball beyond the outer rim to the outside of the roulette playing area, the upper side of the playing area is closed by a transparent cover having a hemispherical shape.
Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,005 discloses a roulette playing device where the ball is launched into the playing area from the outside by means of a ball launch device using pressurized air to convey the ball through a launching tube. To allow for a fully automatic operation of the game, a ball that has landed into one of the pockets of the roulette wheel, may be discharged into a collection funnel below the roulette wheel by means of lowering the roulette wheel to allow the ball to roll from the pocket into said collection funnel from which it may roll into a gating device from where the ball is conveyed by means of pressurized air to a spinning device hitting out the ball back into the playing area. Such spinning device includes a pair of driven rollers having a distance from each other smaller than the ball's diameter so that the ball sent to the spinning device by means of pressurized air is caught in the opening between the two rollers which are then driven at different rotational speeds, thus giving spin to the ball when it is injected into the gaming area.
A similar ball spinning device is disclosed by WO 2015/114302 A1 showing a ball launcher having a pair of driven wheels spaced apart from each other at a distance smaller than the ball's diameter. The driving direction of said pair of wheels can be changed, thus allowing to fire the ball in either of two opposite directions.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,965 discloses a roulette gaming device using pressurized air to further randomize the gaming results. More particularly, the so-called canoes forming the obstacles between the outer bank path and the rotating roulette wheel are provided with air nozzles to inject pressurized air onto the playing area in substantially diagonal directions.